Friday, 10 August 2012

Calgary 31, Hamilton 20

The more things change, the more they stay the same. Once again, the Ti-Cats have a chance to take a step up and remove the .500 monkey from their back and they fail to do so. The team simply got run over by the Stampeders and wasted a golden opportunity to seize sole possession of first place in the East Division.

Positives

Very few positives came out of this game, but one of them was the play of Chevon Walker. You can still see the rookie mistakes he makes – there are a lot of two- or three-yard gains – but when you're as explosive as he is, you take the good with the bad. He scored both Hamilton touchdowns last night and finished with 103 total yards on just 14 touches. He was Hamilton's best player last night.

Another positive was the play of rookie receiver Simon Charbonneau-Campeau. Thrust into the lineup after the injury to Andy Fantuz, Charbonneau-Campeau picked up 45 yards on just three catches and helped move the chains a couple of times. He won't make anyone forget about Fantuz, but it was an impressive showing in limited time for the former Sherbrooke star.

Negatives

The only place to start is with the run defense. Calgary ran for 233 yards on the Ti-Cats last night, with Jon Cornish accounting for 170 of those yards. When Calgary needed to run the ball, they did. When Hamilton needed to stop the run, they didn't. Everything Calgary did in the run game worked; end arounds, up-the-gut runs, even Kevin Glenn managed to scramble for a 16-yard run at one point. The Ti-Cats couldn't stop any of it.

Marc Dile had a rough night. By my unofficial count, he was flagged four times for either holding or illegal procedure. He was the reason that the steady Belton Johnson was released and looked every bit the rookie that he is last night. Not a good night for him at all.

The injury suffered by Andy Fantuz was a tough blow. If not for getting hurt, Fantuz's name would likely be in the area above this because he was putting together a pretty good night. Even with missing most of the second half, he still caught six balls for 77 yards. It's a shame he got hurt, and I hope he has a quick recovery.

Lastly, I was very disappointed to hear the fans in attendance boo Kevin Glenn. I thought Tiger-Cat fans would show their appreciation for what Glenn did while he was here and sadly, I was mistaken. Very disappointed.

Final Thoughts

So once again the Ti-Cats have a chance to make a statement and fail to do so. They now find themselves atop the East Division standings, but only because of early season tiebreakers over Montreal and Toronto. Those tiebreakers could be gone soon with the Cats set to embark on a four game East Division swing, that includes three games on the road. The Ti-Cats will head to Winnipeg to play the Blue Bombers next Thursday, then travel to Montreal to play the Alouettes the following Thursday, before settling in for back-to-back games against the Toronto Argonauts.

It is that upcoming stretch of games that makes last night's loss so disheartening. The Ti-Cats had a chance to put some breathing room between themselves and the rest of the division, but instead they fell back to the pack. They have a golden opportunity to distance themselves over the next four weeks, but they will have to be better than they were last night if they hope to win more than they lose during that stretch.

You have to admit, whether you like Glenn or not, he left the team in much better shape than when he took it over. To think otherwise is to deny facts.

And comparing him to Mann, who did nothing when he was here, isn't fair at all. Glenn broke team records and all Mann did was break bones (his own). Mann had little to do with the success of the team. If Glenn is to take the blame for the team failing to get over the hump, then he must get the credit for getting the team to the hump. Without Glenn, who knows where this team would be right now.

Glenn quarterbacking this team to the playoffs the last three years gave players like Avon Cobourne and Andy Fantuz the confidence that if they came to Hamilton, they had a chance to win. I'm not saying build a statue of the guy, but a respectful clap when he was introduced isn't asking much. After that, boo the heck out of him, but I was disappointed that the crowd last night didn't show their appreciation for what Glenn did while he was here.

Really? When he took over as starter in 2009, the team hadn't made the playoffs in five years, had won 17 games over the course of the previous four seasons and finished in last place everyone of those years. When he left, they had made three straight playoff appearance, won a playoff game and won 26 games in three seasons. I'm not saying the guy's Doug Flutie or anything, but to say the team isn't better now than when he arrived is simply not true.

He took over as starter from Porter and they suddenly used a much more diverse offensive scheme. Even at that his numbers weren't perceptibly better than Porter's. Personally I attribute the limited success to Cobb and then Colbourne rather than Glenn. You are right the guy isn't Doug Flutie, more like Cleo Lemon

Over 5,000 yards and 33 TD passes (a single-season franchise record) aren't "perceptibly better"? Maybe the team used a "more diverse offensive scheme" because Glenn could handle it. But I don't see why the team being successful with Glenn is a knock on him. If you can't admit that the team is better now than they were before he got here, no facts (and what I posted was fact) will change your mind.

You attribute the team's success to Cobb and Cobourne (you should probably spell his name properly if you're going to praise him)? I liked them just fine, but Cobb was an average player at best. Cobourne was good, but he wasn't a world beater or anything. He was solid and I like him as a player, but he didn't set the world on fire last year. It just seems like you don't want to give any credit to Glenn, but I'm sure you're the typical fan who blamed him for every mistake.

And comparing him to Cleo Lemon is just laughable. Using ridiculous hyperbole doesn't help your point, it just detracts from it. The fact that you think the two are even in the same category makes me question just how much you know about football. No one, I guess aside from you, would put Glenn in the same category as Lemon.

It just looks like you cannot give Glenn any credit for helping to take the Ti-Cats from an afterthought to a playoff team. If it wasn't for Glenn, players like Cobourne don't come here. But I feel like any argument will just be met with more ridiculousness. So I won't bother trying to convince you otherwise. You've clearly made up your mind, even if the facts don't support your hypothesis.